Is this a scam?

Oopsadaisy

phoodless wrote: »

You must be informing the wrong people then :rotfl:

So let me get this right....

You call police and say 'I've got one of those scam email/phonecall thingys...you know they send several BILLLION of them every week. Do you want to come round and investigate??'.

Police fall over themselves to get to your house.

Come on.... get real.

PZH

Oopsadaisy wrote: »

So let me get this right....

You call police and say 'I've got one of those scam email thingys...you know they send several BILLLION of them every week. Do you want to come round and investigate??'.

Police fall over themselves to get to your house.

Come on.... get real.

No - you call the police and say there is a person who will be at your premises trying to obtain money by deception on a known date and time.

If they don't want to come then that is their decision - but I think people underestimate the police at times.

Many forces have a fraud department who might be very happy to investigate.

Failing that - then maybe the local paper would be interested.?

Either way - stop it through the correct action - or make it more publically aware.

fluffnutter

Yes, it's a scam. Evidenced by the fact that your grandfather can't remember entering the draw. This isn't because his memory's bad; it's because he didn't enter. Who told him he'd entered the draw? Hmm, I bet the caller did. Strange that.

PZH

http://www.oft.gov.uk/OFTwork/ConsumerProtection/consumer_initiatives/report-a-scam/

birkee

When they call to check the details with him, they get ALL the information they want. They give him a dunlop cheque, and ask for the account number that it's being paid into, so that they can clear the payment.

Or something very similar. Don't make any appointments for them to call..... don't let them anywhere near you!

Lozzzy

Thanks for all the responses. We kind of knew it was a scam but so far they haven't asked for any details and they are sending the 'cheque' so we shall see what they do next.

fluffnutter wrote: »

Yes, it's a scam. Evidenced by the fact that your grandfather can't remember entering the draw. This isn't because his memory's bad; it's because he didn't enter. Who told him he'd entered the draw? Hmm, I bet the caller did. Strange that.

Evidenced by not remembering means absolutely nothing since he is 85 and can't remember what he did yesterday let alone a few months ago.

birkee

I'm a little lost at this point.
Will a rubber cheque be returned to the originator, with the details of the account they were unable to pay it into?
Or, will it only be sent back to the person trying to pay it in?

I'll be fascinated to hear the outcome of this one. Thanks Lozzzy!

fluffnutter

Lozzzy wrote: »

T
Evidenced by not remembering means absolutely nothing since he is 85 and can't remember what he did yesterday let alone a few months ago.

I appreciate your grandfather's memory isn't what it is. But this is exactly what scammers rely on! They say 'you entered a competition' knowing full well that many won't remember whether they did or didn't.

Does he actually enter a lot of competitions? Is he the kind that does? People generally fall into two camps - those that enter comps all the time, and those that don't. At all. If he's comp mad, you'd know surely? And if he's not, then how has he won one?

If someone said to me that I'd won a competition, even if my memory was poor, I'd still know that was the most unlikely piece of rubbish I'd ever heard simply because I don't ever enter competitions. And I wouldn't forget that about myself because it's a personality trait, not an event.

hollydays

Has he given them his name then? You are considering letting a total stranger in your grandfathers house on the strength of a phone call......
How about suggesting you visit them with the i/d? THatll sort out the problem..
Alternativly,this might just be the start of them putting him on a suckers list.

Lozzzy

Fluffnutter, I understand what you mean. He's not mad on competitions but he does enter them from time to time and vaguely remembers something but can't be sure.

hollydays wrote: »

Has he given them his name then? You are considering letting a total stranger in your grandfathers house on the strength of a phone call......

They already had his name and address from supposedly entering the competition. Of course not, we fully intended to arrange a specific date and time and be there with my dad and my partner who one guy wouldn't get away with messing with. The odd thing is they have decided not to send someone and the check is in the post apparently.

Birkee, I'm completely baffled too. I usually very good at spotting a scam and can work out a few ways that it could pan out but with this one, I've no idea.
As far as I'm aware, when a cheque bounces, it is returned to the person who tried to cash it not to the person it originated from.
At this point, the only thing I can think of is if they say they have sent too much money or the 'inland revenue' messed up so could we send a certain amount back to them but you'd have to be stupid to send money back to them before the cheque has cashed.

Either that. or its a money laundering scam and the police will show up and accuse us of handling dodgy money. Will check out the name on the check when/if it comes.